The first beer on the list is in a league of its own. We’ve dicussed the California Common (aka “steam beer”) in the past, but here’s a quick refresher. Back before commercial refrigeration, it was difficult to ferment beers at the lower temperatures necessary for lagers. As a result, brewers used shallow open fermenters so the air would cool the wort faster. They ended up using a lager yeast (normally activated at 45-50°F) and fermented it at a higher than average temperature (typically 58-68°F).

A unique style to begin with, Southern Tier out of Lakewood, New York ups the ante even further with their 2x Steam. Much like their 2x Stout or IPA, they take the normal ingredients and double it. Clocking in at 8% ABV, you’ll be surprised at how mildly this beer exerts itself. A deep, golden color, honey and mint aromas shine through. The hops are subtle, but firm. Sweet up front, light tangerine notes blend among earthy hop profiles. One of a kind, Southern Tier doubles your fun way better than Doublemint gum ever could hope.

Southern Tier Brewing Company was founded in 2004 by Phineas DeMink and Allen Yahn with the vision of bringing small batch brewing back to a region rich in brewing tradition. In 2003 Skip and Phin purchased the defunct Old Saddle Back Brewing Co. in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. All the equipment was removed and brought back to Lakewood, New York and set up at its new 10,000 square foot home, The Southern Tier Brewing Company. The Brewery began operations in February 2004 distributing regionally. By 2005 sales covered the majority of the New York State and the eastern half of Pennsylvania. In the beginning their two Flagship brands were a Pilsner and Mild Ale. Oh yeah they also brewed IPA! As it turned out the flagships were a flop and the IPA was a huge success. They next launched a line of seasonal beers which have gained great success. Since the beginning, Southern Tier has experienced steady growth, currently distributing to over 25% of the United States. Multiple expansions have been made to keep up with demand and the brewery continues to be innovative by producing new products. Keep a look out for new products coming to stores near you.

While Pearl Street Brewery has been around since 1999, #beerclub has yet to sample their brews. This is about to change, as we add yet another Wisconsin brewery to our roster.

Pearl Street Brewery Pale Ale

I’m trying out a new plugin on the blog to gather data from the online brewery database, so I’ll let the brewerydb.com plugin give you more details about the brewery and the beer. Join us next Monday at 8:00 PM at @hashtagbeerclub and #beerclub as we drink Pearl Street Pale Ale.

Our brewery started with a dream and a 1984 Eagle Wagon and trailer packed with brewery equipment driven here from Colorado by an ambitious young brewer and his Dad. After a long and tumultuous journey involving disaster and triumph; joy and heartache ~ they began to build. Following fourteen months of design, building and construction they finally fired up the brew kettle for the first time in December of 1999. Although the brewery was tiny and tucked in a basement on Pearl Street, the celebration and Grand Opening was enough to attract throngs of flavor starved people and get Mayor Medinger to tap the inaugural keg.
We have come a long way since. Today we brew, bottle and keg our beers from our new home in the historic La Crosse Footwear building with our expanded 30 barrel brewery. The new brewery has over six times the brewing capacity of the old Pearl Street Brewhouse. And while we spent the first 8 years slinging brews out to nearby pubs and restaurants in draught kegs only, in July of 2007, we unveiled bottled beer in six packs and cases.

A well-defined hop flavor and aroma distinguish this classic beer. American-Style Pale Ales are amongst this country’s most distinctive brews. Few beer drinkers can pass up the flowery, slightly dry yet full-bodied flavor of this popular beer. Four separate additions of British hop varieties mingle in the brew kettle to create it’s intriguing and assertive hoppiness, and the age-old “dry-hopping” method using our own locally grown hops during fermentation tops Pearl Street Pale Ale off with spicy and floral hop aromatics. Silver Medal Winner at the World Beer Championship, 2003. Available on draught year ‘round.

ABV: 6%

Availability: Year Round

Glassware: Pint Glass

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Things they are a changing at Capital Brewery. Kirby Nelson, Capital’s longtime brewmaster, left the brewery in October to start a new brewery with Carl Nolen, Capital’s former president. In the wake of this shakeup Capital is working to reinvent itself.

In the nearly 30 years since the brewery first opened, they have never brewed an IPA.

Until now.

The brewery has just released Mutiny IPA and their new limited release Imperial IPA Capsized. The Mutiny IPA is a new year round beer from the brewery and can round out the traditionally lager and bock heavy lineup.

Located in a former egg processing plant building, Capital Brewery produced its first brew at 6:30 pm, April 17, 1986.
The brewhouse features two copper brewing kettles. These units, now over 50 years old, were originally used at the former Hoxter Brewery located in Germany.
At the heart of the operation is a group of loyal and hard working employees dedicated to producing the high quality beer that Capital Brewery is known for.
Most of the beers brewed here at Capital consist of traditional ingredients, water, malted barley and wheat, hops and yeast. However, we do believe in experimentation to develop unique beer styles and varieties. We invite you to enjoy one of our beers in our brewery or take some home for a true Capital experience.
Capital Brewery was established with an important mission in mind, and we continually build on that sentiment, by delivering a unique experience and award winning beers to meet the changing demands of the craft beer community.

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This week’s beer of the week isn’t actually a beer at all. Our friends over at Sprecher Brewery released a limited run of their new Bootleggers Bourbon Barrel Hard Root Beer.

Sprecher Bootleggers Bourbon Barrel Hard Root Beer

Building on the success of the Sprecher Sodas, this Hard Root Beer bridges the gap between the breweries soda lineup and their beer lineup. Sweet and complex in flavor, the Sprecher root beer is one of the highest rated root beers on the market. Coming in at 5% ABV, this drink promises to be something to remember.

The brew is available at the brewery and at several area liquor stores including Rays and Discount Liquor.

Join us at twitter hashtag #beerclub on Monday night January 21st at 8:00 PM Central time as we drink the Sprecher Bootleggers Hard Root Beer.

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When Sprecher Brewery wanted to give drinkers a new way to experience their beer that went over and above a traditional brewery tour, they added a reserve tasting option in which participants have 10 beer samples paired with 10 different artisanal cheeses. These reserve tastings proved successful and the brewery wanted to take the experience even further.

Tonight, the brewery takes the wraps off their new Tapas and Beer tasting event which is the brewery’s answer to those desires to build on the success of the reserve tastings. On Monday night @Einley and I were able to partake in a preview of the new tasting. It’s clear that the brewery views this as a perfect way to show off their beers, their innovation, and their traditions. Bringing out almost their entire beer lineup for this event was a great way to really get to know the brewery on a whole new level.

The event, lead by Sprecher’s President Jeff Hamilton, featured 12 different beers which were each paired with five food items. We started out on the lighter end of their beer spectrum with the Sprecher Hefe Weiss and worked through to the dark Sprecher Imperial Stout. There were stops at staples among the Sprecher beer line like their Pub Brown Ale, and Black Bavarian, as well as some of their less common beers like the IPA2 and the Pipers Scotch Ale. Each of these beers was paired with a variety of cheeses, nuts, meats, fruits, veggies and even candies, our palates got a serious workout with sampling over 70 different flavors.

The team at Sprecher worked hard on designing these pairings, and it shows. Each and every beer had at least one food item paired with it that seemed out of the ordinary and unexpected. Not everyone liked every flavor combination, but that was not only to be expected, but it was by design. Jeff explained that they ran several test runs of the event and “if four out of five people liked it, it probably went on the plate. If five out of five people liked it, we didn’t necessarily put it on the plate because we felt like we weren’t challenging people enough.”

In addition to the 12 beers that were included in the tasting, we were treated to a sampling of the Hopfuzion fresh hop lager, the Citra Bomb IPA, Commando Bourbon Barrel Scotch Ale, the Czar Brew with bourbon cherries, and the new Hard Root Beer. This event is intended to dazzle you, and it is very successful at that goal.

There are only a few ways to improve a night of drinking quality beer. Drinking the freshest possible beer, drinking it with good friends, and pairing it with good food. This new option at Sprecher Brewery helps accomplish all three at once.

Tickets for the Thursday night tastings are $30 per person and it is limited to 16 spaces to keep it personal, so be sure to book early. The menu will change seasonally to keep it fresh and inline with the current beer offerings. Call the brewery at (414) 964-2739 for more information.

Milwaukee has a new beer education event that started yesterday. @BeerChurchMKE is run by Kurt Mayes (@BrewerKurt) and there were a few #beerclubbers among the congregation. Here is a recap from #beerclub’s own Jodi Wilson (@HeyJo1).

Jodi is a long time #beerclub drinker who drinks, runs and homebrews. Her homebrew has its own twitter account (@FartlekBrewing). She has been on many of the Beerclub Field Trips, and we welcome her contributions to the blog going forward.

If you have a topic that you’d like to see on the #beerclub blog, just let us know and we’ll get you access to post away.

– Mitch

Yesterday, in addition to being a cheerleader for several friends running the Lakefront Marathon, I attended Beer Church.

It is not the traditional church service so don’t get all offended by it. But just an amusing name for an event that will be hosted on the first Sunday of the month at John Hawk’s Pub in Milwaukee.

Yesterday’s theme was Oktoberfests. Oktobertfest is a 16 day festival held in Munich, Germany each year in Sept/Oct. (You can read the Wikipedia article for more details on the festival). Traditionally, Oktobertfest beers are a marzen style, that has more of a malty flavor with no real hop taste to it.

My personal favorite from this group was the Warsteiner. It had a nice malty flavor. I did not care for the Erdinger which was more like a wheat version of an Oktoberfest. The Paulaner tasted a bit metallic-y for me. Like there was foil in it.

Here my favorite was Hoptoberfest. I like hops and this had a nice hoppy flavor that complimented the sweet malty flavor. The rest of the beers were solid and I would drink all of them again.

While the inaugural meeting was small, it was still a nice group of people with different beer backgrounds. You don’t have to be a beer geek to come out. You just have to not be afraid to try something new and different. Who knows, maybe you will find your new favorite beer and a few new friends.

Monday night a few #beerclubbers were invited to a special Tenth and Blake tasting at Miller Brewery by our newest #beerclub member, the stunning Lisa Zimmer (I wasn’t put up to saying she’s stunning or anything 😉 ). Lisa is the Digital and Consumer Outreach Manager for Tenth and Blake, a division of Miller Brewing.

First, a little background. Tenth and Blake was created three and a half years ago in as the craft and import division of Miller. They oversee brands like Blue Moon, Leinenkugels, Pilsner Urkell, AC Golden, and St. Stefanus among others. They get a lot of flak for being “Fake Craft Beer” and the corporate whores of the beer industry, but through people like Lisa, they are working on overcoming that image.

One of the ways they are overcoming this stems from some internal policies. All staff members of the Tenth and Blake division are given two weeks of intensive beer education. This education includes how to homebrew, and how to taste beer. Every employee is given a homebrew kit as part of their employment, and they are all required to pass the server level cicerone test. Lisa also said that since their offices are in Chicago, away from the brewing facilities, that they are encouraged to brew beer at work. They feel it’s important to be around the brewing process, and have beers fermenting near them while they work. This is the same company that gets constantly derided for not appreciating beer. More on Tenth and Blake in a bit, but let’s get onto the drinking stories.

Fred Miller’s Pub

A few weeks ago, #beerclub drank Blue Moon to celebrate the actual blue moon. This is a beer that falls under the umbrella of Tenth and Blake, so we invited Lisa to join in on the conversation. She wasn’t able to make it that night, but she did want to reach out to us and invited a small group to meet her at Frederick Miller’s Pub. The pub is located on the brewery grounds, and it was built after the SAB Miller purchase with the intention of being a place for employees to go after work, and increase camaraderie among the staff.

The cooler door at Miller’s Pub

The bar is gorgeous. It’s really welcoming with plush seating, bright wood on the walls, beer steins, and there’s no tacky neon. I have some pics taken by fellow #beerclubber Jodi. If I was an employee, or had access to the bar, I’d be there pretty often. The place just has a very cool atmosphere.

Genevieve and I arrived at the same time and Lisa invited us to grab a beer from the bar. Both of us had the Third Shift Marzen. poured into a tall glass while Lisa arranged to start pouring from her secret stash. Once she opened up her stash, we were off to the races.

I’m not going to give a commentary on all the drinks we had, but I will provide a list, just so you can get some idea of the variety, and quality of the beers we were trying:

Crispin – Ginger and Elderberry Cider

AC Golden – Hidden Barrel Kriek

Leinenkugels – Snowdrift Vanilla Porter

Terrapin – Free Spirit Farmhouse Ale

Brouwerij Van Steenberge – St. Stefanus Blonde

Worthington’s White Shield – IPA from Burton upon Trent

Blue Moon – Caramel Apple Spiced Ale

Crispin – Stagger Lee

Fox Barrel – Orange Peel & Corriander

Fox Barrel – English Perry

Crispin – Lansdowne

Leinenkugels – “Ten Miles Wide” (a special not for release version of the Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout that was bourbon barrel aged over sour cherries) This one was complete with a special label:

Ten Miles Wide

All of these beers were really good, and we had some great discussion about where Tenth and Blake’s sees themselves in the market.

We even had some special guests who came to talk with us.

Mike from Crispin has been the Wisconsin rep for some time, and now he’s in charge of the Midwest region. He came and brought most of the Crispin and Fox Barrel samples that we had. Unfortunately we ran out of time to try all of the ciders he brought, so he just sent them home with us. I have some ciders here that I’m really excited to try.

It was very interesting to hear the viewpoint of someone who worked for Crispin well before the Tenth and Blake acquisition, and who admitted he wasn’t sure how the company would be treated after being bought out. After the acquisition, not a single employee has left the company. That tells me that Tenth and Blake is doing this right. They’re not the big evil conglomerate that some people in the craft community make them out to be. Sure, they are a part of a large brewery, but these people are passionate about their beers and ciders.

Dick Leinenkugel and Mike Christensen

Then, while we were drinking and talking, Dick Leinenkugel came and sat with us. Dick doesn’t quite understand twitter, but he does understand beer, and he’s a very personable guy who has a pretty quick wit. He stayed and talked with us for most of the time we were in the pub. It’s kind of surreal to be drinking with a member of the Leinenkugel family who is wearing a Leinenkugel’s shirt.

As if that weren’t enough, we had a quick introduction to Dr. David Ryder, head brewer at Miller, and VP in charge of Brewing and Research for MillerCoors. He had a quick sample with us, before he went back to drinking his Miller Lite. When Dick commented on the choice of a Miller Lite, Dr. Ryder responded with “What can I say?” Another very pleasant man, who really knows his beer.

Dr. David Ryder and Dick Leinenkugel

Once we finished at the pub (it was just after 6:30 PM by this time) we took a cab over to Molly Cool’s seafood for dinner where the discussion with Lisa continued. She is a perfect person to be doing this consumer outreach. She knows her stuff, but she is also very friendly and easy to get along with.

There are more stories, but this post has gotten long, and unfortunately, you just had to be there for yourself to experience it. We may have an opportunity to do this again, I’ll keep you all posted if such an opportunity arises. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it.

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Over on twitter, I’ve accumulated several beer related nicknames. I’ve been called the leader of #beerclub, it’s been stated that I’m the sensei of the club, and I’ve even been called the #beerlord. I’ve been around and around with @Einley about the #beerlord title, so I’ve learned that I just have to accept that one, but I want to discuss my role in #beerclub, and the vision I have for the group.

I discussed some of the history of #beerclub on for it’s one year anniversary so I won’t rehash that story here, but I’ll give a little more history into who I am and my own beer journey, and where I’d like to see #beerclub go in the future.

I’ve never really liked the American adjunct light lagers that are mass marketed to the world. When I started drinking beer, I looked for something better. At first that meant drinking Killian’s, Blue Moon, or Leinenkugel’s instead of Miller Lite. I understood that these were beers with a little more flavor than the lite beers that commercials were telling me “tasted great.” Then, I moved to Milwaukee, and was introduced to Sprecher.

Here, in the Sprecher Amber, was a beer that didn’t taste like other beers. It had so much flavor in comparison to even the “premium” macro brewed beers that I had been drinking up to that point. I started understanding that beer was a much bigger entity than I had experienced to that point. However, I still didn’t drink good beer on a regular basis. That transition happened a few years later.

A group of friends and I started a monthly pilgrimage to Lakefront Brewery for their tour. It was a great place where we had lots of fun, got good beers for cheap, and learned a little something to boot. Those tours turned me into a craft beer lover. I filled a dorm sized fridge in my basement with craft beers, and started my voyage to becoming a craft beer lover.

Fast forward a few years more, and I had done the Lakefront tour some 30 times, and found myself in a rut. I was drinking craft beers, but primarily beers from Sprecher, Capital, Point and Lakefront. I still love those breweries, and they make great beers, but I wasn’t actively going out and trying new beers. I remember thinking that I needed something to inspire me to go out and try new beers, little did I know that I would start something that would lead me to some of my best friends, or that I would learn so much about the world of beer in the process.

So, now that I’ve discussed my personal beerpiphony (Genevieve wrote about her own beerpiphony back in the early days of this blog), let’s talk about #beerclub. I didn’t realize when I started writing this post that I would share my own story, but it seems like it’s an important piece of the puzzle to explain the vision of #beerclub.

While I’ve learned a lot about beer, the ingredients, the history, and the culture, I know I’m no expert. I’m learning right along side of everyone, and that’s why I feel like calling me the “leader of the club” is not the right word. I prefer to think of myself as a moderator.

I strongly believe that #beerclub is US. Everyone who participates and those who don’t speak up, and yet follow the hashtag on Monday nights. You are all so important to the success of the club and the direction we take that I don’t like to think about it as being under my control.

That brings me to the inspiration for this post. A discussion on twitter about picking an “Official Beer” of #beerclub came up. It was suggested that Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale become the official beer of the club. During the discussion it was proposed that it would be my duty to decide on the official beer of the club. I balked at this idea for a few reasons:

I wholeheartedly disagree that it would be my call. Like I discussed this is the club’s decision to make, if the majority of club wants an official beer, then we’ll have an official beer. It’s not my place to make any proclamations like this. We are currently running a survey to pick #beerclub’s favorite beers, and if we were going to declare one beer as the official beer, I would say that it should be the result of some democratic method like picking the beer that rates as the top beer on that survey.

However, the idea of an “Official Beer of #Beerclub” flies right in the face of what I think #beerclub is all about. If we endorse one single beer as THE beer, we’re encouraging people to be in a rut. Beer has so many styles, breweries, and variants that I don’t know how we could limit ourselves to one single beer.

Finally, as @Einley tweeted, if I was to pick an official beer of #beerclub, my personal vote would be for something local. I love Dale’s Pale Ale. It’s one of my all time favorite beers, but I’ve never met the head brewer of Oskar Blues, and they aren’t as committed to me as a Wisconsin drinker as other beers we could choose. I’ve met Jim McCabe of Milwaukee Brewery, I’ve met Randy Sprecher of Sprecher Brewery, I’ve met Kirby Nelson of Capital Brewery, and I’ve met the Klisch brothers of Lakefront. These local brewers live and breathe the Wisconsin beer scene. They chose to start their breweries here, and are committed to Wisconsin first. As a primarily Wisconsin based group, I’m inclined to support these brewers first. We’ve even seen participation from the official brewery’s twitter accounts from several of the local Wisconsin breweries.

This begs the question, if we don’t have an “Official Beer of #beerclub” what are people supposed to drink when they can’t get the beer of the week? My typical answer to that question is to try to drink another beer in the style. For example, this week we’re drinking a sour, so if you can’t find the Brux, go out and find a sour beer that you have never tried. Failing that, if you can’t find a similar beer, drink a new to you beer of any style. #beerclub aims to be as inclusive as possible, and we’re not going to turn anyone away for drinking a beer that’s not “official.” I’m working on compiling a series of questions that may or may not be related to the beer of the week, so if you don’t have the beer, you can still add to the conversation.

This spirit of inclusion means that we’re not a Wisconsin only club. We’ve had participation from across the country. From Virginia, Nebraska, Minnesota, Washington, California, and other places that I don’t even remember. We’re focused mostly on Wisconsin, simply because that’s where the majority of our members reside, and since it’s very difficult to find craft beers that are distributed nationwide, we had to draw the line somewhere. If you’d like to participate from outside of Wisconsin, we welcome you. Talk to me and maybe we can work something out.

Inclusion means that we’re not even strictly speaking tied to twitter. We started on twitter, have a facebook group (mostly abandoned), and we’ve done a Google Plus hangout (check in on Monday for a #beerclub afterparty hangout). Heck, we don’t even exclude you from joining us on the #beerclubfieldtrip if you don’t have a social media account. We’ve had participation on the field trips from several people who don’t have twitter accounts, or have never participated in a single #beerclub.

In the spirit of collaboration, and the spirit of #beerclub, I want to finish this post by saying that if you have suggestions, comments, questions or even a blog post you’d like to share with the club. Just contact me and I’ll do everything I can to make it happen.

Cheers! Happy Drinking! Happy International Beer Day, and don’t forget to fill out the survey. I’ll be closing the poll on Monday night, and compiling the results, so if you want your voice to be heard, now’s the time.

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For the past year, Thursdays have been my solace. It is my weekly date with one of my closest friends. We go to a bar, where no one knows our names, and decompress over drinks. Mostly Riverwest Steins. Occasionally a social event pops up and we do that instead. This last Thursday night was one of those times.

We had the pleasure of attending the inaugural meeting of the Milwaukee chapter of Barley’s Angels. There was such an awesome variety of women there- women in the industry, home brewers, non home brewers, displaced Suds Club members and, like, one other twitter user. The one common thread was craft beer, and from the sounds of this informational meeting, we have plenty of craft beer fun in our future. Tastings, brewery tours, cheese and beer pairings and social hours are in store along with plenty of learning and meeting new friends.

Meetings are the first Thursday of the month. If you are a female and interested in craft beer, I encourage you to join us. A good sized group of women were there for the first meeting and I only see this growing into something super awesome.